IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0286216.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring multi-dimensional disparity index: A case of Nepal

Author

Listed:
  • Prakash C Bhattarai
  • Milan Shrestha
  • Prakash Kumar Paudel

Abstract

This study introduces Multi-dimensional Disparity Index (MDI) to measure multi-form of disparity in different level of governments referencing Nepal. The measurement scale of MDI was developed by adopting Santos and Alkire’s (2011) approaches. A wide range of thematic experts was consulted, employing the Semi-Delphi approach to determine its dimensions and indicators. The MDI in this study includes six dimensions and 34 indicators composited with dimension-wise indices like Economy Disparity Index [ECODI], Educational Disparity Index [EDUDI], Health Disparity Index [HDI], Geography and Climatic Vulnerability Index [GCVI], Living Standard Disparity Index [LSDI], and Demography Disparity Index [DDI]. Overall, the study revealed the extent of multi-dimensional disparity across three tiers of government in Nepal. More specifically, Nepal scored 0.388 MDI value. Karnali and Bagmati provinces are accounted as the highest and least deprived. This study contributes essential knowledge, particularly in exploring the dimensions and their indicators and develops an approach to measure multi-dimensional disparities. Most existing approaches for assessing disparities are mono-dimensional and measure the disparities in a single aspect. In this context, MDI provides a broader approach to consider multiple dimensions and measures multiple aspects in a country like Nepal, where disparity manifests at multiple levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Prakash C Bhattarai & Milan Shrestha & Prakash Kumar Paudel, 2023. "Measuring multi-dimensional disparity index: A case of Nepal," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(10), pages 1-14, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0286216
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286216
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0286216
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0286216&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0286216?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James & Seth, Suman & Santos, Maria Emma & Roche, Jose Manuel & Ballon, Paola, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199689491.
    2. Srinivas Goli & Nagendra Kumar Maurya & Moradhvaj & Prem Bhandari, 2019. "Regional Differentials in Multidimensional Poverty in Nepal: Rethinking Dimensions and Method of Computation," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(1), pages 21582440198, March.
    3. Ingrid Robeyns, 2005. "The Capability Approach: a theoretical survey," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 93-117.
    4. Shaleen Khanal, 2018. "Gender Discrimination in Education Expenditure in Nepal: Evidence from Living Standards Surveys," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 35(1), pages 155-174, March.
    5. Simon Wigley & Arzu Akkoyunlu-Wigley, 2006. "Human Capabilities Versus Human Capital: Guaging the Value of Education in Developing Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 78(2), pages 287-304, September.
    6. Itishree Pradhan & Binayak Kandapan & Jalandhar Pradhan, 2022. "Uneven burden of multidimensional poverty in India: A caste based analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(7), pages 1-18, July.
    7. Alkire, Sabina & Santos, Maria Emma, 2014. "Measuring Acute Poverty in the Developing World: Robustness and Scope of the Multidimensional Poverty Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 251-274.
    8. Mariah Abdul Rahman & Nor Samsiah Sani & Rusnita Hamdan & Zulaiha Ali Othman & Azuraliza Abu Bakar, 2021. "A clustering approach to identify multidimensional poverty indicators for the bottom 40 percent group," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(8), pages 1-25, August.
    9. Sonali Deraniyagala, 2005. "The Political Economy of Civil Conflict in Nepal," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 47-62.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Álvaro José Altamirano Montoya & Karla Maria Damiano Teixeira, 2017. "Multidimensional Poverty in Nicaragua: Are Female-Headed Households Better Off?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(3), pages 1037-1063, July.
    2. Nicolai Suppa, 2018. "Towards a multidimensional poverty index for Germany," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 45(4), pages 655-683, November.
    3. Burhan Can Karahasan & Fırat Bilgel, 2021. "The Topography and Sources of Multidimensional Poverty in Turkey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 154(2), pages 413-445, April.
    4. Jalandhar Pradhan & Soumen Ray & Monika O Nielsen & Himanshu, 2022. "Prevalence and correlates of multidimensional child poverty in India during 2015–2021: A multilevel analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(12), pages 1-19, December.
    5. Bao, Yan Xi & Liao, Ting Xuan, 2021. "Capability Approach: Reconciling the Absolute Core and the Multidimensional Relative Poverty Measures," MPRA Paper 111333, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Veronika V. Eberharter, 2018. "Capability Deprivation, and the Intergenerational Transmission of Social Disadvantages—Empirical Evidence from Selected Countries," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(12), pages 1-22, December.
    7. Fancello, Giovanna & Tsoukiàs, Alexis, 2021. "Learning urban capabilities from behaviours. A focus on visitors values for urban planning," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    8. Espinoza-Delgado, José & Silber, Jacques, 2018. "Multi-dimensional poverty among adults in Central America and gender differences in the three I’s of poverty: Applying inequality sensitive poverty measures with ordinal variables," MPRA Paper 88750, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Pinaki Das & Bibek Paria & Shama Firdaush, 2021. "Juxtaposing Consumption Poverty and Multidimensional Poverty: A Study in Indian Context," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 469-501, January.
    10. Sugata Bag & Suman Seth, 2016. "Understanding Standard of Living and Correlates in Slums - An Analysis Using Monetary Versus Multidimensional Approaches in Three Indian Cities," Working papers 263, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    11. Gaurav Datt, 2019. "Multidimensional poverty in the Philippines, 2004–2013: How much do choices for weighting, identification and aggregation matter?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1103-1128, October.
    12. Alkire, Sabina & Roche, José Manuel & Vaz, Ana, 2017. "Changes Over Time in Multidimensional Poverty: Methodology and Results for 34 Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 232-249.
    13. Verónica Amarante & Maira Colacce, 2022. "Multidimensional Poverty Among Older People in Five Latin American Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 945-965, February.
    14. Yei-Whei Lin & Chih-Nan Chen & Kunpeng Zhao, 2020. "The Capability Approach to Adolescent Poverty in China: the Profile, Decomposition and Predictors of Deprivation," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(1), pages 255-277, February.
    15. Mohd Khairi Ismail & Suhaiza Hanim Mohamad Zailani & Muhamad Zahid Muhamad & Nurul Ashikin Alias & Muhammad Nooraiman Zailani, 2025. "Exploring the Multidimensional Poverty Index: National and Children’s Dimensions in Malaysia," World, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-17, February.
    16. Najam, Zaira, 2020. "The Sensitivity of Poverty Trends to Dimensionality and Distribution Sensitivity in Poverty Measures - District Level Analysis for Pakistan," MPRA Paper 102383, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Nicolai Suppa, 2016. "Comparing Monetary and Multidimensional Poverty in Germany," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp103_1.pdf, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    18. Sabina Alkire, Mauricio Apablaza, 2016. "Multidimensional Poverty in Europe 2006-2012: Illustrating a Methodology," OPHI Working Papers 74, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    19. Espinoza-Delgado, José & Klasen, Stephan, 2018. "Gender and multidimensional poverty in Nicaragua: An individual based approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 466-491.
    20. Anh Thu Quang Pham & Pundarik Mukhopadhaya, 2022. "Multidimensionl Poverty and The Role of Social Capital in Poverty Alleviation Among Ethnic Groups in Rural Vietnam: A Multilevel Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 281-317, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0286216. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.